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Portland Observer
Online
‘City of Roses’
Volume XLV
Number 51
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • December 21, 2016
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Campus security at Portland State University draws on diversity and experience as three African American officers formerly with the Portland Police Bureau join a
controversial new PSU police force. Pictured (from left) are officers Marci Jackson, PSU Police Chief Phil Zerzan, and officers Vince Elmore and Willie Halliburton.
Officers of color
ground new PSU
police force
C hrista M C i ntyre
t he P ortland o bserver
Two seasoned African American po-
lice officers from the city of Portland
have been added to a controversial new
Portland State University police force,
joining an already diverse team. Five of
the 12 officers now overseeing campus
security are people of color.
PSU’s recent decision to hire veteran
Officers Marci Jackson and Vince Elmore
by
on
Drawing
Experience
continues an effort by school administra-
tors to bridge the concerns of students,
faculty and staff while meeting the safety
needs of its campus population.
The downtown school is the most
recent in the state to create a dedicated
police force. But the patrol of armed offi-
cers on the campus has drawn the opposi-
tion of many people in the PSU commu-
nity and other advocates for civil rights
across the city.
Jackson, a retired police officer from
Portland’s black community has demon-
strated outreach skills working with
diverse neighborhoods. She headed
the Portland Police Bureau’s Crisis Re-
sponse Team which worked to comfort
victims and their families while trying to
ease tensions at crime scenes.
Jackson has been instrumental in sup-
porting “Enough is Enough,” a grass-
roots advocate organization for restor-
ative justice and changing the culture
of silence about crime. With 23 years of
police experience, she also helped recruit
officers for the Portland Police Bureau,
C ontinued on P age 4